"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
beginner's mind
Alchemy calls on each of us to bring our expertise and experience to the world in times of crisis, of urgent human need. But so often, the specific skills and knowledge I carry into a situation are nearly useless because they are constructed on assumptions about the capabilities, resources and social infrastructure of my world of upper middle class Silicon Valley, California, United States of Ame.... When an urgent evoke drops us in Sao Paulo, Tokyo or the 9th Ward in New Orleans, it's a different story -- we're not from there, we don't know what works, and we cannot trust our intuition.
When we are faced with a new unfamiliar situation, perhaps in the middle of chaos and uncertainty, it is natural to instinctively put up our defenses, assert our ego, make a show of strength: "Stand clear folks, we're trained experts and we're here to help." While this may be appropriate for medical emergencies or extreme disaster relief, my experience suggests it is the wrong approach for social innovation.
There's a concept in Zen Buddhism called "beginner's mind". It means adopting an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, just as a beginner in that subject would. When MIT's Amy Smith, a leader in the appropriate technology movement, tells us:
"Listen to the right people. Okay, so you probably don't know what it's like to carry fifty pounds of firewood on your head. Well, don't pretend that you do. Talk to someone who has done it. I believe that the key to innovation in international development is truly understanding the problem, and using your imagination is not good enough."I figure she's talking about beginner's mind. So this is how I'm approaching our current adventure -- trying to lower my defenses, bring a positive, open mind, and reach out to new friends who know things I don't, who have different experiences and ideas, who sprouted in different soil. I hope you'll consider doing the same, and together we'll learn, and play the game, and maybe along the way we'll find that we can make a difference.
Views: 25
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Comment by Chelsea Howe on February 20, 2010 at 3:59pm
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Gene - This is a great mindset to have going into something. Defense is nice and easy but you're absolutely right - those walls can be a huge hindrance towards creativity, collaboration, and connecting with other people. I hope we can all start mastering the Beginner's Mind here :D
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Comment by Alchemy on February 21, 2010 at 12:58am
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Gene, I have awarded you +1 courage for this mission. As you clearly understand: It takes courage to have a beginner's mind, and to admit how little you know. It takes courage to set aside your assumptions and really learn about someone else's life, so that you can solve problems with them, instead of trying to solve problems for them.
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Comment by Alex Fanelli on March 4, 2010 at 12:50am
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"..a positive, open mind.." More poignant words I could not choose myself. Reaserchers, scholars, and priests have long studied and aknowledge the power of positive thinking, and to truly put yourself on the path to enlightenment, you have to first accept that you may need to learn how to find it.
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Comment by Deborah Cazden on March 10, 2010 at 9:59am
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I completely agree with you. You cannot pretend to know how to help someone. You need to collaborate with people who are in the "KNOW" to make sure that anything you present will actually be helpful.
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Comment by Kristi Miller Durazo on March 10, 2010 at 9:13pm
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Gene, I think you bring up two important points, that of the beginners mind (or as someone said, think like a child) and the idea that we might just have to step out of our "real world" into the REAL world. @accarmichael (via @soultravelers3 )shared this article on being an "intentional traveler". It is very compelling. http://bit.ly/djzRF7
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